Submissions

Author Guidelines

Instruction for Authors

Academic prose should be clear and businesslike, aimed at effective communication of an argument which persuades the reader rationally. Articles will be subject to copyediting according to the following guidelines. Articles are to make an argument. Authors may address, exclusively or in combination, four primary areas of study: the theological exegesis of Scripture, history of doctrine, philosophy of religion, dogmatics, and missiology. While challenging ideas should drive academic scholarship, the Promissio author also aims to educate readers. Authors are to promote deliberation in the readership aimed at moving a theological argument forward productively. Promissio requires high scholarly standards; authors are to employ lucid terminology to explain and educate and as well as persuade. Articles must cohere with the journal’s philosophy. (Please follow "home” link at the top of this page to the text of the journal's philosophy). It is not required but a useful structure for composing an academic article is as follows:

1. What is at issue? What is the controversy? Why does it matter?
2. Articulation of a thesis to address the issue.
3. A brief discussion of the method by which the thesis will be demonstrated.
4. The body of the article providing evidence and analysis in support of the thesis.
5. Consideration of objections to the argument thus far.
6. A conclusion that draws with logical force the demonstration of the thesis in the light of the foregoing argument.

During Composition

Authors are well advised to bear these ground rules in mind during composition.

• Single spaced in Times New Roman 12 pt font in a Microsoft Word document. Advise if assistance is needed for conversion to a Microsoft Word file.
• Avoid the suggestion of oral presentation. For example, avoid the use of first person and the use of contractions.
• Assure that your article conforms with Chicago Manual of Style, especially bibliographic citation form in footnoting.
• Employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and indicate placement for any artwork within the draft at the appropriate location.
• Where appropriate, provide the URLs for the bibliographic references.
• Language with respect to human beings should be inclusive.
• Language for the Trinitarian persons should use the gendered pronouns; language for the deity, i.e., the divine nature, the title “God,” in distinction from the persons may use neuter pronouns (e.g., “Godself”) and may employ biblical metaphors.
• Polemic should be avoided; the tone should be irenic.
• No bibliography or works cited as we cite within the body of the essay using footnotes.
• Avoid redundancy: don’t say the identical thing too frequently with the later repetitions simply reminding, expositing, and/or reinforcing the initial statement.
• Limit subjective, first-person voice.
• Avoid addressing your reader directly in the second-person.
• Be highly cognizant of clarity in expression, of consistency in language (be wary of equivocation). Prose should be focused overall and within sections.
• Provide transition statements to sum up and point forward.
• Provide unnumbered subheadings for articles over 5000 words.
• Avoid asking questions other than rhetorical ones.
• Avoid exclamation points.
• Avoid interjections.
• Use as much active voice as possible.
• Be careful of verb and pronoun agreement.
• Be sure that the antecedents of pronouns are evident.
• Avoid colloquial and conversational language as well as jargon (except for rare and special effect; in that case, include explanations/definitions)
• Foreign language expressions, unless they are well known and familiar, should include the English in parentheses or in apposition upon their first occurrence.
• Be careful with comma usage with particular attention focusing on coordinating conjunctions, clarifying emphasis (rather than dashes), and introductory clauses.
• Submissions must also include a succinct author bio with contact information; an abstract and a list of keywords.
• Authors are responsible for submitting a carefully proofed text (to be proofed again, should extensive revision be required)
• Intended submissions composed according to the foregoing requirements should first be emailed as a Word document attachment to the General Editor, Paul R. Hinlicky (phinlicky@ilt.edu) for initial review upon intention of submission. When the general editor has agreed with the author on a final revision, the author may proceed to making the formal submission.

Submission Preparation Checklist

Upon the approval of the general editor on the final revision of the draft, it will be formally submitted. Authors verify their submission's compliance with the following items; submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these requirements.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it currently submitted to another journal for consideration (without appropriate explanation provided to the General Editor).
• The text adheres to the foregoing stylistic and bibliographic requirements.
• The submission is fully complete upon submission. Any additions, corrections, and editing by the author after submission will be approved only by the General Editor.
• This website requires that articles accepted for publication must be registered under the author's own username and account for completion of the online publication process. Consequently, all authors must register an account within this website in order to be published (https://promissio.ilt.edu/index.php/pj/index).

File Preparation

Please prepare all manuscript files with the article components in the following order:

For all Articles:

• Title of Article/Sub-title of Article. Although a single, succinct title is often effective, the use of a sub-title can also be helpful. When using a sub-title, please be sure it is introduced a colon at the end of the main title. Avoid using an asterisk in the title. Any necessary bibliographic note or citation should be included as an initial unnumbered footnote.
• Article author name (without any degrees/titles here).
• Text body paragraphs of the article/editorial/review.
• Sub-titles or section titles interspersed between body paragraphs as appropriate/needed, specific words/phrases are preferred to Arabic or Roman numerals. Do not number paragraphs
• At end of article/editorial/review, brief author biography in 1-3 sentences, beginning with author’s/reviewer’s name (include here any degrees/titles, perhaps prominent publications and/or other credentials), followed by contact information.

Text specifications

Capitalization.

• Do not use capitalization for the sake of emphasis.
• Use capitals in reference the Bible and books of the Bible. For example, Scripture, Gospel according to St. Mark (however, use lower case, gospel, in reference to the message of Christ.
• Use capitals in reference to institutional bodies, such as Institute of Lutheran Theology and Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

Italics.

• The textual citation of published works should be in italics: e.g., The Book of Concord. However, citation of confessional symbols should appear in Roman type: e.g., the Small Catechism.
• Single words and short phrases in languages other than English will be italicized. Do not set them off in quotation marks.
• Books of the Bible should be capitalized but NOT italicized.

Quotations.

• Less than five typewritten lines may be set off in quotation marks; more than five lines should appear as a block quotation, indented, and without quotation marks.
• Use quotation marks to identify titles of essays cited in the text; use italics for titles of books and other complete publications not otherwise noted.

Diacritics.

• In spelling German ä, ö, and ü diacritics should be used, not ae, oe, ue.
• Diacritics should always be employed where appropriate, particularly in the citation of languages other than English.
• Care should be taken in the citation of Greek and Hebrew. Authors should use the Greek and Hebrew fonts available from the Society of Biblical Literature.

Spelling.

• Use “-ize” endings when given as an alternative to “–ise.”
• Use American form, not British; for example, savior, not saviour.

Dates and Numbers.

• 1990s; not 1990’s.
• Sixteenth century; not 16th century (at the beginning of a sentence).
• July 2024; not July, 2024.
• Sixty–seven; not 67; but use numerals for numbers over one hundred.

Acronyms.

• Avoid the use of acronyms. Cite the referent fully in the first usage the acronym in parentheses following. After that you may use the acronym.

Footnotes

• Please execute footnotes in the automated notes program of Microsoft Word.
• The first citation of a work in the footnotes should include the complete bibliographical data—Author, Title: Sub-Title, volume & issue number/s (city of publication: publisher name, date of publication), page number/s.

For example:

• Luthers Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 57 vols. Eds.J.F.K. Knaake et al. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1883ff.) 2:45.6-10. (Hereafter cited as WA.)
• Luther's Works, American Edition, 55 vols. Eds. Pelikan and Lehmann (St Louis and Philadelphia: Concordia and fortress, 1955ff.) 2:45. (Hereafter cited as LW.)
• Corpus Reformatorum, 28 vols. Eds. C.G. Bretschneider et al. (Brunsvigae and Halis Saxorum: C.A. Schwetschke et Filium, 1834-60) 3:75-76. (Hereafter cited as CR.)

Final File Preparations

• The spelling of any/all proper names or special terms should be checked for consistency and standardization.
• All text should be single spaced and contain no additional spacing either before or after any paragraph.
• You do not need to include any page formatting beyond specific textual usage (italics, superscript, subscript) and indented quotation paragraphs or partial paragraphs. Please do not use boldface for emphasis.
• All text should be set to left justified only, regardless of usage for title, sub-title or body text. Lengthy indented quotations of more than 4 lines may/should be identified and broken into a separate paragraph of text.
• Italics are not typically used on superscripted footnote numbers when with foreign words, titles, emphasis.
• Do not use a tab to indent new paragraphs at all.
• Do not use any column or page breaks at all.
• Do not include any empty or additional paragraph breaks or space (hard returns) between paragraphs of text. (In other words, do not place any extra spaces between paragraphs). Remove any/all extra/additional spaces and paragraph breaks from the entire manuscript file.
• Remove any/all other tabs (unless used for special formatting of a chart or list necessary with article [please identify accordingly and also provide a reference to original manuscript for production layout comparison]).
• Do not use any stylistic formatting for font or paragraph appearance style and/or size (other than any foreign language font faces as needed). All formatting production will conform to the publication’s editorial style. Please communicate any questions or specific needs/requirements for the article at the time of submission.

Questions?

Please contact: Martin A. Christiansen, Managing Editor / mchristiansen23@ilt.edu